Lost schools

More money not always the answer to reform

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan made a recent visit to San Francisco and declared that, despite once being home to the best public schools in the country, California has “lost its way.”

We agree. Schools in California have lost their way and the long-term effects are troubling. But what we disagree with was the attempt by some to shoehorn Duncan's comments into the narrative that public education in California is in bad shape solely because of the state's budget crisis and spending cuts.

Not so. It's true that Duncan said during his visit that California needs to end its budget stalemate and provide state dollars for schools. In part, he was talking about what the state has to do on its end before it can receive more of the $100 billion that public schools around the country will be getting from the economic stimulus plan. California has received about $4.3 billion from that fund, but could get billions more.

Yet Duncan also talked about how, even in an economic crisis, you can proceed with reforming schools. In fact, he said, “It's often at times of crisis we get the reforms we need.” And, when Duncan talked about what specific reforms he had in mind, it became clear what he meant by California schools losing their way.

Duncan believes in boosting accountability by using student achievement data to evaluate teacher effectiveness and reconstituting failing schools that have become “dropout factories.” In fact, Duncan pointed out, giving schools more resources is not always the answer.

You know, this man may be too smart to be education secretary.

Duncan is also a big proponent of providing merit pay and breaking down what he calls the “fire wall between students and teachers” where the latter too often refuses to take responsibility for the performance of the former. It's all part of what Duncan correctly diagnoses as a situation in which “dysfunctional adult relationships have hurt children.” The only way out, he said, is to “have the courage to start fresh and start over.”

The education secretary is quite correct. And do you know who play a major role in creating the dysfunctional relationships he talked about? That's right, teachers unions who demand a lot, give back little, and care a lot less about student performance than they do about securing the best contracts for their members. In exchange for a steady stream of lavish campaign contributions, Democrats in Sacramento have virtually handed the system over to these organizations. Out went accountability, and anything else that required teachers to work harder and produce better results. In came lower expectations and more excuses for why some students weren't learning. And politicians looked the other way because they were bought and paid for.

And that, Mr. secretary, is how California schools lost their way. And unless you understand that, you'll never be able to help get them back on course.